There was some foundation for the fear that the barriers between the races would be removed. In the exhaustion of Spanish finance, Olivares, in 1634, opened negotiations with the Jews of Africa and the Levant, and royal licences were granted for the admission of individuals. In 1641, relations were resumed; they sent representatives whom he received and kept with him for a considerable time, silencing the remonstrances of the Suprema with the assertion that they were there on the service of the king. It was proposed that they should be allowed to reside in the suburbs of Madrid, in a separate quarter, with a synagogue, as in Rome. He won over some members of the Royal Council and some theologians to his plans, but the Inquisition was inexorable, and Cardinal Monti, the nuncio, told the king, in public audience, that Olivares must be dismissed if the harvest of the Lord was to be cleansed of tares and the risk be averted of ruining the faith of Spain. Incidentally Olivares interfered with the Inquisition, by demanding the papers in certain cases; Inquisitor-general Sotomayor refused but, finding himself powerless to resist, placed the documents at the foot of a crucifix, whence they were carried to Olivares, who burnt them and released a number of prisoners. It is even said that he contemplated abolishing the Inquisition, but Philip IV was too profoundly convinced of its necessity to both Church and State to entertain the project, and there may well be truth in the assertion that his quarrel with the Holy Office was contributory to his downfall. This put an end to all negotiations and, in 1643, we find the Suprema instructing the Valencia tribunal to forbid the landing of the Jews who were coming from Oran.[803] [Sidenote: _PROSELYTISM_] Some stir was caused, in 1645, by two Jews, Salamon Zaportas and Bale Zaportas, who presented themselves in Valencia with a royal licence, dated in 1634, and one from the Marquis of Viana, Governor of Oran. They applied to the tribunal for permission to attend to their business in the city and to wear Christian garments, so as not to be mobbed. The tribunal was puzzled and ordered them not to leave the city under pain of two hundred pesos, while it consulted the Suprema. The latter represented to the king the danger impending on the faith from this disregard of his orders by ministers who issued licences, to which he responded with instructions to send them back to Oran: the causes leading to the cédula of 1634 no longer existed; if in future their coming were considered necessary, the Governor of Oran must report and await the royal decision and a special licence.[804] There is no reason to suppose that the venturesome Israelites had anything more important in view than private business.